This invention relates generally to security and monitoring systems for both residential as well as business and industrial use. It relates more particularly to security and monitoring systems that operate over wired or wireless networks. Even more particularly, it relates to security and information systems that use condition sensors connected by a network that facilitates remote monitoring, notification, and interaction.
Existing premises security monitoring systems are usually connected to central monitoring stations via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a by a commercial wireless network. In the event of a system alert, current monitoring center procedures provide the customer with an alarm verification call, notification to the local police or fire authorities, and notification to a number of designated contact numbers. Although only 20% of the households in this country have monitored security systems, false-alarm police dispatches account for 98% of police dispatches nationwide. Such false alarm events typically cost municipalities nationwide over $1.5 billion per year. As a result of the high incidence of false alarms plaguing the industry, it is not uncommon for the police to take as long as an hour to reach the premises where an alarm has been activated.
Further, when an alarm system is violated, the siren only sounds for a period of up to five minutes. Should the homeowner return to the premises before the police arrive and after the alarm ceases, the safety of that individual is seriously compromised.
In the residential security system industry today, upon the receipt of an alarm transmission from a security or premises monitoring system, the dispatcher of the central station monitoring facility calls the premises to verify whether the emergency event is valid. If there is no answer or if it is otherwise deemed necessary, the dispatcher notifies the appropriate authority for emergency dispatch. At the time of emergency notification, the dispatcher at the central station monitoring facility is limited to the information transmitted from the base unit in the premises. The dispatcher does not have access to real-time information about the situation that could influence his decision as to whether to notify the emergency authority.
Furthermore, the calls made to the customer contacts after the authorities are dispatched are most typically not given priority by the central station monitoring facilities and are only made to the customer contacts when emergency calls and dispatches for other customers are not being made. Therefore, it is not uncommon for the contacts listed in the customer file to be notified about the alarm so long after the incident that notification is useless.
When the central station monitoring facility calls the premises to verify the alarm event, if the event notification is not cancelled, the dispatcher immediately notifies the emergency authorities for dispatch to the premises in question. If the homeowner is not at home at the time of the alarm event, the homeowner""s knowledge of the premises, hardware and authorized users is not available to influence or control the action taken by the central station monitoring facility at the time of alarm signal transmission. And, it is only after the emergency authorities have been dispatched that the dispatcher of the central station monitoring facility attempts to notify the other contacts listed in the customer""s file.
Current systems also allow customers limited or no opportunities to alter contact numbers in their profiles or to be contacted via the growing variety of communication devices available to the public (e.g., fax, e-mail, pager, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), text messaging device). It is therefore generally uncommon for the contact numbers stored in the customer""s contact list to be up-to-date due to the cumbersome process required to update a contact list.
These factors seriously compromise the safety of the owner of the premises, who, if not on premises at the time of the alarm event, may not receive information about the alarm notification prior to entering the premises while an intruder is still present. The above factors also contribute to the high incidence of false alarm dispatches in this country. If the owner of the premises is not on the premises at the time of the alarm event, the owner is not able to direct the central station monitoring facility whether to cancel or continue with authority dispatch.
The current call flow process from a security or premises monitoring system direct to a Central Monitoring Station, which calls the premises for verification and then notifies the authority for emergency dispatch, is an inefficient premises monitoring solution. This call flow configuration also has adverse cost and safety implications for the system owner, central station monitoring facilities, authorities, and cities alike.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved system for monitoring premises security and other conditions. It is a primary object of this invention to provide a system that transmits interactive notifications about premises event and alert information in the order and manner determined by the customer within the customer profile to any wired or wireless communication device. It is yet a further object of this invention to receive transmissions of alarm notifications regarding changes in the status of any one of a number of sensors or parameters in a security or premises monitoring system at a remote Information Management Network via the Public Switched Telephone Network, Wireless Commercial Network, cable network or other commercial network.
It is another object of the present invention that the customer be able to remotely and securely access the Information Management Network via the Internet or telephone to modify and review the information in his Customer Profile and Event Log within the Information Management Network, using a secure web or telephone interface, to easily and securely maintain and update contact lists and notification preference points, schedule times for certain information notifications, update call flow sequences, access personal account information, review detailed alarm history, review results of notifications made to each of the delineated devices, review billing information, schedule non-alarm event notifications and update and review other alarm signal and hardware related information. It is another object of the invention that the Information Management Network initiate periodic interactive notifications to customers to encourage them to update their Customer Profile by entering the correct digital or voice recognized pass code.
It is yet a further object of the invention that the customer be able to determine the order in which contacts will receive the event transmission and have the opportunity to cancel said event transmission prior to said transmission being sent to the central station monitoring facility or private guard service for authority dispatch. It is another object of the present invention that an authorized recipient of an event notification can cancel the transmission of the notification to the subsequent contacts in the notification sequence or a central station by entering the correct digital or voice recognized pass code. It is yet another object of this invention that a central station monitoring facility use the Information Management Network to contact customer devices listed in the Customer Profile concurrently or following the dispatcher""s verification call to the home, to allow an authorized individual, remote from the premises, to cancel the alarm notification prior to dispatch of the authorities. It is still another object of the invention that the recipient of a notification call be able to be transferred or conferenced with the emergency authority through a digital or voice request. It is another object of the invention that the receipt of information by the recipient can be confirmed and a record kept in the event log database of the Information Management Network for retrieval and review at a later date by an authorized individual. It is another object of the invention that the Information Management Network complement or replace the functions of a central station monitoring facility.
The system of the current invention provides to users and central station monitoring facilities an efficient and affordable event notification solution in which the call flow configuration of the invention is designed to enhance the safety and convenience of the customer and reduce the incidence of police, fire, or other emergency dispatches generated by false alarms. The invention comprises a secure interactive and remotely accessible Information Management Network (IMN) based routing system for alert, medical, and other emergency event information. The system delivers sequential interactive event notifications based on signals received from sensors at the monitored premises and sends them in text, voice, DTMF or digital, text messaging, or other formats to a plurality of remote wired and wireless devices, including cell phone, pager, email, SMS, landline phone, text messaging device, personal digital assistant, and fax as appropriate. The IMN further delivers such notifications to a pre-designated central station monitoring facility in security industry format.
The hardware of the IMN is a combination of a plurality of modems, an alarm monitoring engine, at least one server containing customer information databases, a unified messaging platform, event logs, web and telephony interfaces, an interactive messaging server, a Private Branch Exchange/Interactive Voice Response (PBX/IVR) interface, and a telephone conferencing switching mechanism. This configuration translates the data received from a premises hardware unit into a notification capable of being sent in voice or text format to any number of customer designated devices including telephone, fax, email addresses, pager, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or text messaging device. The systems are redundant.
The IMN routing system is domiciled at a secure independent hosting facility or at a secure central station monitoring facility. The system is able to receive event and alert information from any security or premises monitoring devices and sequentially transmit interactive notifications about the event and alert to wired and wireless communications devices specified in the Customer""s Profile within the IMN. Transmissions can be made in voice, text, DTMF, digital, text messaging or other formats to such devices as cell phone, pager, email, fax, text message device and SMS, as well as in Contact ID, SIA, or other security industry formats to an independent central station monitoring facility for them in turn to dispatch the authorities.
The automated secure remote IMN has a novel interactive alarm notification call flow sequence that uses information stored in the Customer Profile within the database of the IMN to notify designated points of contact by making sequential interactive notifications to one or more persons or locations previously designated in the Customer Profile over one or more wired and wireless devices in text, voice, DTMS, text messaging or digital formats to notify them of an emergency event or a change in the status of any premises sensors. Delivery to any of the above destinations occurs in the order and manner specified in the authorized user""s Customer Profile within the IMN.
For an alarm notification, the information conveyed can include the customer name, address, location of the security or premises hardware, phone number of the security or premises hardware, date, time, type and name of sensor, zone, local emergency authority phone number, and other relevant personal or premises-related information. The IMN also allows for a two-way communication interface with the security or premises hardware.
The IMN, having automatically received an alert notification from the premises where the monitoring devices are located, automatically accesses a data base, finds the particular owner""s profile, and then also automatically sends interactive alert messages to phones, faxes, email devices, pagers, hand-held computers and/or a manned monitoring center as previously specified by the owner. The use of the alarm system is electronically logged in the IMN so that it can be reviewed later.
The system uses the information populated within the Customer Profile to instantly alert the customer and his contacts of the alarm event, for example, to warm them of an intruder on the premises or to alert them to another type of emergency event at the premises and enable them to make a decision as to whether the emergency authorities should be notified by the customer directly or through a central station monitoring facility or guard service, or the event notification should be cancelled.
The user can securely access the IMN via the Internet or telephone to program or re-program the user""s customer profile, to include notification preference points, ordering of notifications, routing paths for different types of notifications, times for notification and other related information. This access is to a single universal access point. Receipt of information by the user can be confirmed and a record kept in the event log database of the IMN for retrieval at a later date by an authorized user.
The IMN also permits the user to modify the pre-existing premises alarm notification call flow sequence by allowing the user to direct and manage the alarm notification process. Event notifications from the IMN are interactive and made sequentially to the contacts designated in the Customer""s Profile, allowing the recipient of the event notification to determine the next action to be taken by the IMN in the call flow sequence. Authorized recipients are able to terminate or redirect subsequent event notifications by entering the correct pass codes digitally or through voice recognition technology.
Customers can select the number and ordering of contacts to be notified and queried prior to alarm event transmissions being sent to the central station monitoring facility for emergency authority dispatch. Customers can select to have a central station monitoring facility as part of the call flow sequence, or have notifications sent only to the contacts listed in their profile for those contacts to notify emergency authority for dispatch. Authorized users can access their Customer Profile via a pass code encrypted telephone or Internet interface, to change alarm system configuration, update their points of contact, establish the order in which contacts will be notified based on the type of alarm event and review emergency information any time they desired. Using the pass code accessible Internet and telephone interfaces, users can access information about their accounts, including billing information, contact points, pass code information and alarm history. The invention also provides for externally specified and changeable control of alarm system operation and home automation devices via the IMN or from a remote telephone. Externally directed control of alarm system operation and home automation devices takes place via the IMN.
The ability to securely and easily update contact information at anytime and from anywhere allows the customer to be part of and closely manage the security notification call flow process and enhance his safety by directing alarm event notifications to contact him on specified devices early on in the event notification process. This feature, coupled with the user""s ability to cancel an alarm notification prior to its being sent to the central station monitoring facility, influences the call flow sequence of alarm event information and reduces the incidence of false alarm dispatches. Authorized contact recipients are identified with user-determined pass codes, verified by a digital pin number or Voice Recognition pin number, prior to that person instructing the IMN as to the next step or steps of action to be taken in the call sequence. Another important feature is the logging of event notification information into the database of the IMN so that the customer can review it at a later date.
In this system users have direct, secure access to the monitoring network database via phone or the global computer network in order to review and change alarm system configuration, points of contact and emergency information any time they desire. Customers have access to securely manipulate their personal information within their Customer Profile over the telephone or through a web interface, 24 hours a day.
Customers can elect to have central station monitoring facility back-up capability to be employed after one or more contacts listed in the Customer""s Profile have been contacted and queried, and have failed to receive or respond correctly to the interrogation from the IMN. Customers can also elect not to have a central station monitoring facility as part of the call flow sequence and have the notifications sent only to the contacts listed in their Customer Profile. In all notification calls, customers are provided the opportunity to be transferred directly to the emergency authority for them to initiate a dispatch to the premises.
In certain instances, customers can select to have a central station monitoring facility or guard service notified for police or emergency dispatch, after one or more of the contacts listed in the Customer Profile have received the information and have either failed to properly cancel the event notification or have proactively instructed the IMN to contact the central station monitoring facility or guard service for dispatch. At the same time, recipients of alarm and event notifications are provided the local police number, as well as the ability to be transferred or conferenced with the local police or emergency authority.
Through the IMN, customers can also subscribe to receive notifications with content not related to the security or premises hardware. Such notifications include medication reminders, homeland security notifications and news events, transmitted at specific times, on specific dates, or under specific circumstances, and transmitted to a plurality of wired and wireless devices in text and voice formats as designated in the customer profile.